Emirati state-run oil company Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has awarded a pre-front end engineering and design (pre-FEED) contract to the engineering, project and technical services provider Wood Group for the Ruwais refinery expansion project in the United Arab Emirates. The Pre-FEED is expected to be completed by the end of 2019. It is the second of a four-stage process to get to the beginning of construction.
The 600,000 bbl/d Ruwais expansion project was announced in May 2018. Its commissioning is currently expected for 2025 and fits into the company's target to expand its refining capacity by around 70% by this date, until reaching a total capacity of 1.5 mb/d. ADNOC will invest approximately AED165bn (US$45bn) to support the expansion of its refining sector.
ADNOC operates its refining assets through its subsidiary ADNOC Refining. There are currently five refineries in the United Arab Emirates with a combined capacity of about 1.2 m/d. The largest refineries are located in Abu Dhabi: Ruwais (844,000 bbl/d) and Jebel Ali (140,000 bbl/d). The three others are Fujairah (82,000 bbl/d), Hamriyah (71,000 bbl/d) and Umm Al Nar (85,000 bbl/d). Ruwais is owned and operated by ADNOC Refining and was commissioned in 1981, with a capacity of 120,000 bbl/d that ramped up to approximately 844,000 bbl/d.
In January 2019, the Italian energy company Eni and the Austrian oil and gas firm OMV acquired stakes in ADNOC Refining. After the completion of the transaction, ADNOC will remain the majority stakeholder with a 65% stake, while Eni and OMV will hold respectively 20% and 15% of the company.